The present invention relates generally to a method for melting and removing snow and ice from a roof of a building and, more particularly, to a method for melting and breaking up ice dams which form at a lower portion of an inclined roof of a building.
During winter time, a substantial amount of snow may accumulate on a roof of a building. Some of the snow on the roof may melt and then freeze to ice along the gutters, forming xe2x80x9cice damsxe2x80x9d. As the ice in the gutters or eaves builds up, any water accumulating at the lower portion of the roof may be forced back and up and may get under the shingles of the roof, thereby leading to leaks if the ice is not removed from the roof. It is known to throw salt pellets onto the roof to assist in melting some of the snow or ice from the roof. However, the salt pellets are small and dissolve after only melting a small area at the upper portion of the snow, and thus are ineffective at melting the ice dams formed at the lower or shingle level of the snow and ice on the roof, since the lower layers of ice may be thick and/or may be beneath a substantial amount of snow.
It is also known to place a number of salt pellets into a mesh netting, such as a nylon stocking or the like, and throw the salt pellets and netting onto the roof. Because there is a substantial amount of salt pellets within the mesh netting, all of the salt pellets do not dissolve before they melt a substantial amount of the snow or ice in the area in which they were placed. However, the mesh netting only melts down to the level of the roof and does not melt any ice along the roof, since the mesh netting does not slide along the incline of the roof. Also, after the salt pellets have dissolved, the mesh netting is left on the roof and may clog the eves or the down spouts if not removed.
In some situations, a person may chisel at the snow or ice and/or shovel the snow or ice off the roof manually, either independent of any other ice removal technique or after placing salt pellets onto the roof to melt at least some of the snow and ice. Such an approach is very difficult and dangerous to accomplish because the person shoveling or chiseling the snow must be at or on the rooftop where they may easily slip and fall.
The present invention is intended to provide a method of removing snow or ice from an inclined roof of a building which includes throwing or otherwise placing one or more melting discs (or other shaped melting members) of substantial size onto the snow or ice on the roof, whereby the melting discs melt a substantial amount of snow or ice along the inclined surface of the roof before the discs dissolve.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a method of removing snow or ice from an inclined roof of an building comprises providing at least one melting member which is adapted to melt snow and ice which comes in contact with the melting member. The melting member is soluble such that the melting member dissolves as it melts the snow or ice. The melting member is a tablet of sufficient size for melting a substantial amount of ice or snow before completely dissolving. The method further includes placing the melting member or members onto the snow or ice formed on the inclined roof of the building. The snow or ice is melted beneath and around the melting member while the melting member moves through the snow or ice generally downward toward the roof of the building. The melting member melts the snow or ice as it moves through the snow or ice generally downwardly along the incline of the roof, thereby forming at least one channel through the snow or ice along the incline of the roof. The water from the melted snow and ice is then drained through the at least one channel formed by the melting member or members to remove the water from the roof and thus prevent damage to the roof.
Preferably, the melting member comprises calcium chloride which is pressed into a tablet form. Preferably, the tablet form is a disc shaped form having a diameter of at least approximately two to two and a half inches or more and a thickness of at least approximately one inch or more. Preferably, the size of the tablet is selected to be of sufficient size to ease throwing of the tablet up onto a roof of a building, and may vary depending on the application.
These and other objects, advantages, purposes and features of this invention will become apparent upon review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings.